


The Deepest Cut

by Viridian5



Category: Once a Thief (TV)
Genre: M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-05-03
Updated: 2001-05-03
Packaged: 2017-10-02 08:15:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viridian5/pseuds/Viridian5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The dangers of love and paper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Deepest Cut

**Author's Note:**

> Tiny nods to "True Blue" and "The Director Files."
> 
> I've been slicing myself up at work lately, and this resulted.

Nathan made a small involuntary sound as an edge on the folder he picked up sliced into the ball of his index finger. The papercut immediately started to throb, sting, and burn. He'd left traces of his blood all over the archive recently, which disturbed him to no end. Paper absorbed blood, and he couldn't destroy anything in here to protect himself, so just anybody, if they wanted to, could get a sample. And who knew what they might do with it?

The blood looked candy red as it welled up. Aside from the risk to himself, it would stain the precious papers he held. He had to stop the bleeding.

A big hand closed around his before he could bring the finger to his mouth to suck on it. Victor's hand. Usually he hoped for Vic's notice, but he didn't want it over something like this.

Vic turned Nathan's hand around in his, noticing every small cut that crisscrossed his fingers and wincing over the one that had sliced across the webbing between Nathan's thumb and index finger. Nathan tried not to shiver under the focus on him. "I'm not usually so clumsy," Nathan said. "We just got an influx of new papers and folders, and they're wickedly sharp."

"You should be more careful." Vic had such a soft voice, so why did it catch Nathan the way it did, as if it had barbs?

"I know." Nathan felt pinned by Vic's eyes, unable to look away. They were so green under those thick lashes. But the man's physical beauty paled before the authority he radiated. He was Illuminati, one of the secret rulers of the world. Yet he spoke to someone as lowly as Nathan.

Nathan would die for Victor, yet he doubted he'd be called upon to do so. He should count himself fortunate that Victor trusted his researching skills and came for the results himself.

But then Vic put the wounded finger in his mouth and started to nurse at it. The hot, wet suction of that beloved mouth on the too-open cut made Nathan's knees go weak. It stung and burned and made his hips buck slightly as he became hard. He moaned as Vic's tongue teased the edges, as Vic's saliva mixed with his blood, becoming part of him....

He had to use the wall as support. I love you, he wanted to say, love you more than my life.

Another long scrape of Victor's tongue along the cut woke Nathan up. He gasped for breath as he untangled himself from his sticky sheet. He should have known it couldn't be real.

"NATHAN! Are you with someone?" his mother shouted from her room.

"No, Mother! I just had a bad dream! There's nobody here!" he shouted back.

If Victor needed him to do something tomorrow, it would be sheer hell. Heaven too, but more hellish than usual too. Nathan buried his head in his pillow.

  


* * *

Vic sighed as he turned the page. How many terrorists groups in Canada dressed up like clowns to do their dirty work anyway? This was the second one they'd run into in three months.

Sometimes he wondered if the Director started these groups herself, then sent her agents out to arrest them just as amusement for herself. Anything was possible with that woman.

He hissed as the folder he picked up sliced into his finger. He could see that it was deep before the blood started to well up and obscure it. Looking up, he saw that Nathan obviously had to stop himself from diving upon it... and doing what?

"Uh. I do that myself all the time. Let me clean it up and bandage it for you," Nathan said, his fingers clenching and unclenching.

"It's just a paperc--" Victor started to protest.

"I'll be right back!" Nathan fled.

When Vic saw Nathan return with Band-Aids, hydrogen peroxide, gauze, and a tube of something, he said, "You don't have to--"

"It heals better if you put a triple antibiotic on," Nathan said.

"I can do it my--"

But Nathan had already wiped the blood away, cleaned the stinging cut with the peroxide, and put a dollop of ointment over it, then carefully applied the bandage, making sure it wasn't too tight. All quick, gentle, and efficient, as if he had practice in caring for other people. As he did all of this, Vic saw all the papercuts that crisscrossed the long bony fingers. "What are you doing to yourself?" Vic asked without thinking.

Nathan trembled a little. "The Director thought that the old folders looked too sloppy so she had me transfer all the files to new folders. You just found out what they're like for yourself."

"She had you do all of that because she didn't like the way it looked?"

"She has you chasing terrorist groups that dress up like clowns."

"Touché." Vic looked over to see Mac smirking at them, while Li Ann had raised an eyebrow. He carefully removed his hand from Nathan's grip. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Nathan's too intense eyes burned into Vic's for a moment, then he quickly walked away.

"He gets stranger every time we come in here," Mac said. "It must be tough on his fragile mind to have such a huge crush on you when you keep walking in here. Unrequited love hurts. He could snap totally at any time."

"You're not funny," Vic said. But it was something to think about....

 

### End


End file.
